The Successor And Evolution Of Legal Heir In The Republic Of China

In the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic China, under the pressure of western legal system, the Chinese legal system gradually collapsed and China’s indigenous law was forced to modernize. The inheritance system, which was closely related to the clan law, was carried out by the government of the Republic China, through the development from the Civil Law Draft of the Qing Dynasty. But, a complete introduction of the inheritance system is beyond this essay’s scope because of its complexity. This article will focus on the legal heir sequence of the Republic of China and its legal sources.This essay deems the heir sequence in the traditional law and the law revolution in late Qing as the legal basis, hoping to comb through the sources of law from a historical prospective.In discussing the legislation of the legal heir sequence, we can figure out the features of the evolution of heir sequence and acquire experiences and lessons from it. The discussion of the legislation will be based on these three statutes or drafts:the Civil Law Draft of the Qing Dynasty, Civil Law of the Republic China, and the Civil Law Inheriting Part Draft of the Beiyang Government. The purpose is to figure out sources of the regulations relating to the heir sequence. In the aspect of Features Part, this article will respectively analyze the adjustment of the sequence of the lineal ascendants, including parents and paternal grandparents, wife and daughter, brothers and sisters, and fictitious relation.This article will also analyze the reason and consequence of this adjustment. Finally, the article will be summed up by reviewing the aforementioned points. From the view of legislative technique, this article evaluates the experiences and lessons of alteration of heir sequence, estimates the enlightenment of the alteration according to the process of legal transplantation, and studies the effects and functions by case study. By combining these three aspects, this article tries to figure out how to obtain such a legal heir sequence that not only maintains the traditional characteristics but also connects to the modern society, and not only meets the demands of the society but also complies with the ruling order.